Over the past half-century, the Baltimore metropolitan region has produced some of this nation’s top players and coaches at the amateur and professional levels. By virtue of UMBC’s historic run to the College Cup in the fall of 2014, Pete Caringi, Jr. has surely cemented himself atop the Mount Rushmore of that elite group of men and women.

Caringi became just the third head coach in the history of Retriever Athletics to reach the quarter-century mark in tenure when the 2015 Retrievers took the field. Like a pied piper, he led not only the UMBC campus on the magical mystery tour with an NCAA-record four road victories by shutout in tournament play, but the Retrievers drew fervent fan support from all corners of a pride-filled Charm City.

Caringi, his staff, and squad established many school and America East firsts with the march to Cary. He presided over the first UMBC Division I and league-sponsored squad to reach a national semifinal. The Baltimore native earned national Coach of the Year honors from the sport’s governing body, the NSCAA, and from its most respected publication, Soccer America in the 2014 season. The ECAC and America East also recognized Caringi and his staff with their top coaching honors.

Caringi has built his UMBC record to 276-165-68. The Retrievers were ranked in the top five nationally in 2013 and 2014, and ended the 2015 campaign at No. 4 in the country.

During the season, UMBC placed in the top ten in all media polls. At its highest point, UMBC reached the No. 5 slot in Top Drawer Soccer, College Soccer News and the Continental Tire NSCAA Poll and climbed to a position of No. 10 in Soccer America. The program finished at No. 8 in the final NCAA RPI rankings.

UMBC finished the 2013 campaign with the top winning percentage in the nation (16-1-5, 84.1%).

After that record-setting 2013 campaign, Caringi inked a contract extension through the 2018 season.

Caringi earned the 2013 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Senior College Men's Northeast Regional Coach of the Year honor. In addition, the Retriever mentor and his staff earned America East Conference Coaching Staff of the Year accolades for the 2013 season.

Caringi and the Retrievers celebrated 2012 with aplomb, leading the squad to an America East title and past Old Dominion in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Retrievers were ranked No. 28 in the final College Soccer News national poll, and received 24 votes (29th overall) in the final NSCAA poll. UMBC concluded the 2012 season on a nine-game unbeaten streak and did not allow a goal in four post-season games.

Caringi has won at every level, both as a player and as a coach. In his early years at UMBC, he led the Retrievers to a pair of regular-season league titles (1991, 1993), but building a true championship team eluded him. However, after carefully reconstructing his program over time, the Retriever mentor achieved that measure of success in 1999.

Like a master chef, Caringi blended experienced local talent with a couple of international standouts, and finished by adding a few impactful newcomers. The result was one of the finest products in UMBC history. The 1999 Retrievers won the Northeast Conference title, gave No. 1 Duke all it could handle in the NCAA Tournament, finished the year with the nation’s best winning percentage and earned national rankings in every major soccer poll.

Coach Caringi reaped the benefits of the team’s success. He was named Northeast Conference Coach of the Year and NSCAA South Atlantic Region Coach of the Year, and he was a finalist for National Coach of the Year. Moreover, UMBC’s winningest men’s soccer coach became the first soccer coach in school history to surpass the 100-win plateau.

In 1994, he was inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Hall of Fame, and in May 1998, he was inducted into the Maryland Soccer Hall of Fame. In 2009, he was a member of the second class inducted into the University of Baltimore Athletic Hall of Fame and was a member of fourth class selected to the CCBC- Essex Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014.

Caringi was a two-time All-American at the University of Baltimore (1976, 1977) and is the school’s all-time leading goal-scorer with 70 goals. Moreover, the Retriever mentor is 21st on the NCAA Division II all-time goals list and is 39th in scoring with 159 points. He captained the 1975 NCAA Division II national championship team and played for the Washington Diplomats of the North American Soccer League in 1978.

He and his wife, Susan, have two children, Christina, a 2011 UMBC graduate, and Pete III, who became UMBC's first-ever NSCAA Division First Team All-American after his senior campaign of 2013. The Caringis welcomed a grandson, Jackson, in November of 2016.

Coach Caringi holds a USSF “A” license and is a staff coach with the ODP under-23 squad.

Associate Head Coach

Anthony Adams

Entering his 21st season on the soccer staff at UMBC in the fall of 2017, Anthony Adams also began his seventh season as associate head men’s soccer coach.

On eight occasions, Adams has been named one of the nation’s top assistant coaches by collegesoccernews.com. He just earned his most recent accolade after the 2014 season, and in 2003, he was one of 27 college coaches in the nation to be honored as an Assistant Coach of the Year by AFLAC. Two seasons later, Adams was recognized by the NSCAA as the Assistant Coach of the Year in the Atlantic region.

Adams earned four letters for UMBC from 1992-95 and was a starter in the backfield in his final three seasons. The Dundalk, Md., native (Calvert Hall) has been an extremely successful coach at the club level. As coach of the Soccer Club of Baltimore and the Baltimore Bays, he won 10 state championships, two regional titles and made two national final four appearances from 1996-2007.

Adams was a member of the coaching staff of the USSF Development Academy’s Baltimore Bays from 2008-13 and had five teams place in the Academy Final Eight over that time. He has been coaching with the Baltimore Celtic SC since 2013.

In 2013, Adams was inducted into the Greater Dundalk Hall of Fame and received the Edward Finzel Honor Award for outstanding contributions to soccer in Maryland.

Adams earned the 1995 Retriever Club Scholarship Award, given each year to a junior student-athlete who demonstrates academic and athletic excellence and a commitment to UMBC’s community service program.

He has also served as the program’s recruiting coordinator since 1997. In the 19 year run, he has helped recruit 92 student-athletes that earned all-conference honors, 18 of which earned the conference’s Player of the Year award. Twenty-five Retrievers have earned All-Region honors and seven were tabbed to All-America teams. Moreover, 28 members of the black-and-gold have signed professional soccer contracts.

The longest-tenured UMBC assistant coach holds a USSF “A” coaching license. He earned a degree in history and a certificate in secondary education from UMBC in 1997 and completed his master’s degree in management from the University of Maryland, University College in 2007.

His wife, Stephanie, was a former member of the sports medicine staff at UMBC. The couple had their first child, Isabella Marika, in July 2007 and also welcomed Caroline Marie to the family in August 2010.

Assistant Coach

Pete Caringi III

Pete Caringi III, a 2013 All-American for the Retrievers, will enter his third season as an assistant men’s soccer coach in the fall of 2017.

Caringi served as an undergraduate assistant coach under his father, Pete, Jr., for the 2014 campaign while completing his degree requirements in psychology.

Caringi was the 2013 America East Striker of the Year, after also winning the award in 2012. He was also voted the league’s Fans’ Choice Player of the Year, becoming the first repeat winner in AE history. The Baltimore native scored 27 goals over the last two seasons, was named the Most Outstanding Player in the 2013 America East Championships, and finished his career with 37 goals, fourth on UMBC’s all-time list, and 91 points, which ranks fifth all-time.

One of the championship squad’s tri-captains, Caringi was a semifinalist for the 2013 Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy, soccer’s version of the Heisman trophy, and became the first player in UMBC school history to earn that distinction. In addition, the psychology major became the first Retriever student-athlete in school history to earn NSCAA First Team All-America honors.

He signed a professional soccer contract with Oklahoma City Energy Football Club and scored his first professional goal on April 7, 2014 versus LA Galaxy II.

Caringi, UMBC’s 2013-14 Dr. Charles R. Brown Outstanding Athlete Award winner, was an active participant in the soccer program’s various community outreach efforts, which includes working with The Casey Cares Foundation.

Volunteer Assistant Coach

Sam DeBone

Sam DeBone has been a member of the Retriever staff for 22 of the last 23 seasons. He initially worked with Coach Caringi from 1995-97, then returned to UMBC for the 1999 championship season. One of DeBone’s chief areas is goalkeeping, and he has helped mold some of the best goalkeepers in school history.

Coach DeBone had a brilliant career at Walt Whitman (Md.) High School. He coached the boys’ and girls’ teams for 26 years, taking the Vikings to six boys’ state finals, winning four. He also guided the girls to seven county finals and one title. In his tenure at WWHS, DeBone led three teams to national rankings, produced 10 All- Americans and earned four county and state Coach of the Year honors. His all-time record in 26 seasons was 398-166-43, a winning percentage of 69.1.

In 1994, Coach DeBone was the Region Three Boys’ Coach of the Year, the highest honor awarded in the state. He also has 15 years of club coaching experience, including seven state titles. He has a USSF “C” License and an NSCAA Advanced National Diploma, and he was the state director for the NSCAA of Maryland.

De Bone was inducted into the Walt Whitman Athletics’ Hall of Fame in 2009.